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College Search: Researching Schools

There are tons of resources you can use to find out more about colleges. Like any good researcher, you don't want to rely too heavily on any one source of information or you'll end up with a biased view. Make your search as broad as possible without overwhelming yourself.

Also, as you begin your search, try to keep an open mind and free yourself from any prejudices or preconceived notions you may have about particular schools. Many more schools than the Ivy League colleges offer stellar academics, and just because a college is a highly competitive one doesn't mean that students are boring and don't know how to have a good time.

Have a Plan
I'd written down the few things that were most important to me in a college-strong econ department, small campus, near a city-and kept this piece of paper with me as I researched schools. It was a great reminder.

--Recent Grad
Wesleyan University

Before you dive into your research, you need to have some kind of a plan. Otherwise, before you know it, you'll be drowning in piles of papers and have no idea why you were even looking at a particular college in the first place. Use your ideal college profile, have an organized approach for looking at each school, and think about how many schools you'll need to research.

As we mentioned in our college timeline, try to start your college research at the beginning of your junior year. That way you'll have enough time to look at a few schools, decide which ones to visit, and even revisit some if you feel you need to. If you can avoid being rushed, it's a huge help.

Start your research by looking at your ideal college profile and identifying a few of the most important qualities you'd like your college to have. If you know you want a good history department, start by looking at some schools that have one. If you're after a tough academic environment, that can be your starting point. Or, if you know you want a college in California that's a top academic school you can use those two qualities combined to start your search.

Once you've identified a bunch of schools--say ten to twenty--that have one or more of your top requirements, see how they measure up in the other areas that are important to you. Make note of any that seem to hit the mark in several areas. These are the ones you'll want to research in more depth.

Depending on what you're looking for, you may come up with either too few or too many schools and will have to broaden or narrow your search. If you want to go to college in Arizona and you also want to major in Finnish, you're probably not going to come up with that many schools that meet both of those requirements. Pick what's more important to you--Finnish major or Arizona--and broaden your search based on that change. On the other hand, if you want to study English at a school in the Northeast, you're going to come up with way too many schools to consider in depth. To narrow down your search, add another requirement. For example, if you'd like a quiet campus, you can research schools with good English programs in rural campuses in the Northeast.

Another useful technique we've found is to have a system for looking at each school as you go through your research. It doesn't have to be anything complicated, but find a way that works for you and use it consistently. Maybe you start by looking at the school's website, then read a few guidebooks, and then talk to some alums. Or perhaps you can start by reading the school's brochures and course catalogues, and then move on to the web. If it works for you, it works! Get Some Guidance
High school counselors are a great resource when it comes to learning about colleges, financial aid, and admissions-related information. They can tell you about particular schools, as well as the specific requirements for getting into them. They can also tell you about many useful and relevant college-search resources.

The more prepared you are in terms of knowing what you want, the better your guidance counselor will be able to help you. You shouldn't feel shy about asking for help, even if you're an all-knowing superstar. Guidance counselors have years of experience in this area and there are also side benefits to establishing a good relationship with them: They can be a great reference if they know you well and they have significant influence over some scholarship money that you're after.

Below are some questions you might want to ask your counselor as you discuss your potential college choices:

As with all advice that you get during this process--and if your experience is anything like ours, you'll get a lot--know that it's just the opinion of one person or one source. Don't rely on it like it's the law; be strong enough to make your own judgments.

From the Horse's Mouth
One of my friends had been at this school for a semester and another friend for a year. They both were really helpful. They were able to tell me what to expect from the campus as a whole, the student body, and the professors, as well as what the atmosphere of the campus and town was like.

--Recent Grad
Southwest Texas State University

Alumni and current students at a college can be extremely valuable sources of information. They've been there and can give you firsthand accounts of their experiences. Ask them questions about class experience, social issues, or other things that concern you. Talking with them can also give you a sense of what types of students attend this school and how comfortable you'll be interacting with them.

Another benefit of alumni and current students is that unlike counselors, college representatives, and your parents, they are your peers--or at least much closer to your age--and you may feel more comfortable asking them certain types of questions.

Remember that what current students and alumni tell you is highly subjective. Just because they had a certain experience doesn't mean that you'll have the same one. For example, if someone tells you, "It's hard to make friends here," it may be that this person is not very outgoing and hasn't made an effort to make friends. College Fairs
College fairs can be useful because they allow you to talk to admissions representatives from numerous colleges in one location in a short period of time. They're usually held at high schools or large conference spaces and typically take place during the spring for juniors and in the fall for seniors.

Because there's so much going on at these fairs and many pieces of information to collect, it's important to prepare beforehand and go in with a strategy. If you don't, it's all too easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle.

Before You Go

Things to Take With You At some point after you leave the fair, look through the materials you gathered and start organizing them. If it turns out you ended up with material from a college that doesn't look so hot, get rid of it--you don't need it cluttering up your life. For the schools that seem interesting, decide what additional information you want to get from them and then file their materials in the appropriate folders.

School Rankings
The most popular rankings are probably America's Best Colleges put out by U.S. News and World Report. Rankings tell you how schools measure up to one another, both overall and in terms of particular departments. They can be a good starting point in your search. For example, if you know you want to go to a school with a good anthropology department, you can consult the rankings to see which schools are the best in this area. It's a lot easier than randomly investigating colleges that might not even have this as a major. You may even come across schools that hadn't occurred to you.

College rankings are also useful to get an idea about admission difficulty and where you stand compared to the average student at the school. They tell you about acceptance and retention rates, test scores of entering students, and overall student-body demographics.

It's important to realize the limitations of rankings. Much more than just academic strength goes into a ranking--the level of alumni donations, for example--so just because a school is ranked in the top ten overall doesn't mean that its academics alone are top-ten quality. Also, overall rankings don't tell you much about specific departments. Even if a school is not ranked highly, it might have several strong majors, and if these majors are what you're looking for, it would be a shame to discount the school.

Don't read too much into the "US News Top 50" college rankings--they don't mean that much. Read guidebooks that talk about what the colleges are really like. Then you can decide which ones are right for you.

--Junior
Millsaps College

How much attention you should pay to college rankings is a point of contention--some people think a lot, some people think less. Our main advice here is to consider rankings as just another piece of information about a college: Don't rely on them too much, but don't ignore them either. Check Out a Few Guidebooks
Although college guides, such as The Best 331 Colleges, are excellent for your college search, don't take them as scripture. Visiting campuses will give you the best impression of campus life.


--Freshman
Fairfield University

There are a lot of different guidebooks from which you can choose. In general, it's best to look at those that are updated annually. Things change and you want the most current information.

The more objective guidebooks, such as the Complete Book of Colleges (Princeton Review, published every year), provide basic information about colleges, such as the academic programs available, requirements for admission, student demographics, cost of attendance, and so on. There are also more subjective guidebooks, such as The Fiske Guide to Colleges (Sourcebooks Trade, published every year), which offer opinions on the colleges they profile. They comment on things like quality of campus life, the effect of the location on student life, the strengths and weaknesses of different academic programs, and academic and social tone. Although they usually gather information from a large number of students and educators at the schools they profile, subjective guidebooks are just that--subjective. While it can be useful to see what students think about a particular school, keep in mind that other people who didn't get interviewed might disagree completely with the opinions offered about their colleges.

You might disagree, too. Remember, guidebooks weren't written specifically with you in mind and can't possibly know what you're looking for. They are well worth reading, and whatever they do have to say you can either validate or invalidate later by talking with your counselor or other students, and by visiting the schools and seeing for yourself.

Propaganda
Your high school may have printed materials from various colleges. If it doesn't, you can request materials directly from the college's admissions office. Keep in mind that materials supplied by a college are marketing aids designed to generate your interest in the school.

Even so, there is a lot to be learned from reading them. Pay attention to what the college emphasizes about itself, what majors are offered, the various rules and requirements, and the overall tone. Figure out what's near the college and what the housing arrangements are.

You should also request the school's course catalogue. This is the best source of information on what types of classes are offered and can help you figure out if this is the kind of curriculum that you can get excited about.

It's also a good idea to get a copy of the school's newspaper. Because students write the paper, it can give you a really good idea of what the student body is like. Pay attention to what things are highlighted, what kinds of issues are discussed, and what activities are taking place. This is a great way to get a feel for what the day-to-day is like at each college you're considering. It's Time to Surf (the Web)
The Internet is a great resource and can save you a lot of time, legwork, and money. You can use it to search for colleges based on several characteristics, take virtual college tours, request college information, and much more. Here are a few of our favorite web resources, but check the Helpful Resources section at the end of this book for more ideas:

It's also helpful to check out the websites of the colleges you're considering. Here's some information that you can find there: Don't (Always) Neglect Your Parents
Parents can be great resources. You can bounce ideas off them because they know you really well and have your best interests at heart. They're great for practical stuff, too, because they've probably been through the college search process before--even though it was quite some time ago.

My parents helped keep me organized. During senior year you have all this stuff going on and it's really easy to lose track of where you are in the college process. My parents kept me on track and reminded me about where I needed to be.

--Junior
Vassar College

Keep Good Notes
Keeping good notes as you plow through tons of college information will make your life a lot easier. If you spend a couple of hours reading up on a school, write down any important points you'd like to remember. After you've read up on several schools they may start to blend together.

Don't let pieces of paper scribbled with website addresses and phone numbers pile up. Put them in the files of the appropriate schools so that you can find them easily. In your own books, catalogs, and other printed materials, underlining or highlighting important information and then flagging the page with a Post-it note is a great way to help you find information quickly when you need it.

Keep your ideal college profile nearby as you research colleges and refer to it from time to time to see if any of your priorities have changed. Don't feel like you have to stick to your original requirements--the purpose of all of this research is to learn more about what you need in a college, and if that changes, that's totally fine.

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From Choose the Right College and Get Accepted: How to Choose the Right College and Get in to Your Dream School by Students Helping Students. Copyright © 2005. Used by arrangement with Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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